Beastmaster of the Ages

It started pouring when the Cloudmist keepers pressed forth, but the raindrops were white. They gathered and formed into rivers splashing down.

“Watch out! It’s the whitebone chillwater!” It was a water spirit hazard with black heavenly patterns. As the name would suggest, the water was cold and it could freeze people into white bones. If the victim didn’t have enough beast ki, they wouldn’t be able to resist the chill.

But the whitebone chillwater was only part of the Grant-Orient Barrier. On the other side, there was a tidal wave of black water that threw the keepers into chaos. The black water began corroding their bodies when they came in contact with it, and many of them were swallowed by the tidal wave.

“Watch out!”

“Out of the way!” 

“Retreat!”

Screams began echoing from the keepers.

Many of them had been killed, but it was their first time facing a sect’s defensive barrier. Furthermore, the Grand-Orient Barrier had over a hundred barrier spirit hazards, but only a minority of them had been fused into the barrier by the first ancestor. The rest was done by the Li Saint Clan’s ancestors over the years, empowering the barrier over the ten thousand years and benefiting their descendants today. 

There was purple lightning, a region in the barrier that had turned into a sea of flames, powerful gales that split people into two, and goldnether fog that was made of countless tiny worms. When those worms powered their way through the keepers, they would leave holes in those keepers.

For a moment, it seemed like the Grand-Orient Barrier had turned into hell, throwing the invaders into chaos. Then again, only a small portion of the Cloudmist keepers were experiencing the spirit hazards, since they had come in great numbers, invading from all directions. So despite the white fog and spirit hazards, some of them managed to break through the defenses and made their way deep into the barrier.

But in the depths of the fog, the Grand-Orient guardians were waiting for them. The guardians didn’t have any fog hindering their vision, and the spirit hazards would avoid them. Even the goldnether fog made a detour. 

This was the advantage that the guardians had in their home ground.

The sixth elder, Zhao Zhiyuan, was clad in heavy black armor as he stood before the Grand-Orient guardians, his eyes bloodshot. He had returned to the Grand-Orient Sect before the war began, and he hadn’t told anyone about Yuwen Taiji’s location. He just silently took up his weapon and joined the war.

“Everyone listen up! We’ll kill anyone who stands before us! The thirty-three immortal mountains are behind us, and they’ve been our inheritance land for the past ten thousand years! We have many young disciples and families behind us, and they’ll only be butchered if they meet the Cloudmist keepers. So we can’t afford to lose this fight! They’ll have to ask our weapons if they want to trample over our sect! The Cloudmist Sword Sect is only qualified to be someone’s lackey, so why do we have to be afraid of garbage like them?!

“We can die, but we have to make these bastards who are trying to destroy our inheritance pay the price! If any of you is going to die, then die bringing five down with you! KILL! SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!” He wasn’t just mobilizing the guardians, but he was also the first elder to be on the battlefield. However, he was also the one who had snatched the Grand-Orient Sword.

Humans were complex creatures. Zhao Zhiyuan was afraid of the nethermare venom, but now that his clan and sect were facing the threat of being slaughtered, he was willing to put his life on the line to fight. Perhaps only this could relieve the guilt in his heart. After all, he knew Tianming wasn’t dead, and there was a chance that he had already gone far away.

Beginning with Zhao Zhiyuan, the guardians charged at the Cloudmist keepers, who were being tortured by the spirit hazards. No one was alone in this war. With the help of the fog and spirit hazards, their numbers far exceeded the Grand-Orient guardians in small-scale fights. The Cloudmist keepers who made it through the spirit hazards could only be killed. Swords broke, corpses were split in two, and lifebound beasts were torn to pieces. In a short moment, the entire battlefield had overflowed with blood.

While the fight was going on, lightning would descend and a keeper, who had already been killed, took a bolt to his head and exploded. Deaths were also accumulating for the guardians. But judging from the current situation, the keepers had a higher ratio of deaths. One side was the invader, while the other side was determined to protect their home. With different motivations between the two factions, the power they could exhibit was also different. So much so that many keepers were frightened. 

Honestly speaking, there were only ten thousand guardians from the Grand-Orient Sect, and their numbers were less than one-fifth of their enemies. But with just over ten thousand people, they withstood the first wave of invaders from the Cloudmist Sword School.

Blood was flowing on the ground and countless dismembered corpses were falling, with spirit hazards wreaking havoc in the battlefield. The guardians weren’t alone in the war. Within the barrier were the thirty-three immortal mountains with the Grand-Orient Sacred Mountain situated in the center.

If one stood atop the Grand-Orient Sacred Mountain, they would see countless colored rays extending out in the barrier. The rays were so tightly packed together they looked like a net. Because of those rays, the thirty-three immortal mountains looked even more gorgeous. On every immortal mountain, there were hundreds of rays extending out and converging on the sacred mountain.

Countless disciples stood beside their masters beneath colored rays, transmitting their beast ki into them, which was ultimately gathered in the Grand-Orient Barrier. Those colored rays were also known as the barrier spirit threads. Those threads were an important part to the barrier; they were the source of its energy.

Even the weakest disciple could do their part and transmit their beast ki over to participate in the war. They would take turns resting and transmitting their beast ki to help maintain the barrier’s operation. Perhaps some of them felt fear, but more of them were determined to fight the Cloudmist Sword School to the last person standing.

Their beast ki lit the threads, which converged at the sacred mountain and allowed the elders and chiefs to control the entire barrier. There were ninety-nine barrier nuclei on the sacred mountain, protecting the barrier core. Today, all ninety-nine elders and chiefs were present, controlling the barrier. Aside from the automated attacks of the spirit hazards, most attacks were controlled by a master in their barrier nucleus for more efficiency and power.

The barrier nuclei could control the direction of the white fog and spirit hazards. This required an enormous amount of beast ki, so the masters on the sacred mountain were separated into two groups. So if someone got tired, another master would step in and replace them. The entire Grand-Orient Sect was actively participating in the war—some were controlling the barrier to kill their enemies, some were fighting on the front line, and some were contributing their beast ki to ensure the maintenance of the barrier.

The Elysian Emperor had been right; if the three sects had come together to crush the Grand-Orient Sect, everyone would give up in despair. But the Cloudmist Sword School was the only one attacking right now, which allowed them to have some confidence in fighting off the invaders. Massacre could only be seen on the sacred mountain. Although the war had just begun, the corpses of lifebound beasts lying on the ground had brought the intensity of the war to a whole new level.

No one could take a step back when they saw their friends and family dying in battle. The eyes of the keepers were bloodshot, and the guardians had their families behind them. None of them had a choice but to fight to their last breath.

“The Cloudmist Sword School is just kissing up to Heaven’s Elysium to survive!”

“They’re just a bunch of people who are used to being lackeys. They don’t have any backbone at all!”

“You bunch of hyenas want to destroy the Grand-Orient Sect? Dream on!”

“Brothers, let’s show them the power of the guardians!”

“Sikong Jiansheng, why hide away and only watch the battle? Are you a coward? Come out and let me kill you!” 

The guardians mocked, but only the roaring of lifebound beasts could be heard.

“Who says that only our Cloudmist Sword School is attacking?”

“You guys are dead! The Onyx Sect is probably starting from the Abyssal Battlefield!”

“They still have the wildbeast tide with them! Haha! Your Grand-Orient Sect is finished!”

“Your Grand-Orient Sect flourished for ten thousand years, but you guys are just a bunch of weaklings now! And someone like you dares look down on our Cloudmist Sword School? Wake up from your fantasy!”

“After today, the Grand-Orient Sect will only be left with corpses!” They didn’t need to speak, because everyone here knew that this wasn’t the only battlefield. The Abyssal Battlefield probably had to withstand a stronger pressure coming from the Onyx Sect and their beast tide!

……

The highest sacred palace on the sacred mountain only had half the barrier nuclei. The other half were in the Abyssal Battlefield. Seated at the center, the fourth elder, Shangguan Jingshu, was taking control of the overall situation. Sitting on a barrier nucleus, the countless threads were gathered onto her, making her part of the barrier. “More power! The first elder is currently facing the beast tide, and the pressure there is greater than ours. We need to get some people over!”

“Roger!” the elders and chiefs echoed with their eyes blazing. Veins were bulging on their foreheads.

“Don’t lose!” Shangguan Jingshu arranged for ten chiefs and thirty hall prefects to provide backup to the Abyssal Battlefield side. She could see the entire battlefield with her own eyes. When she saw the guardians dying in battle and spilling their blood, tears rolled down from her cheeks. They were only holding on because they still had hope in their hearts.

“Yuwen Taiji, it’s all up to you now.…” Yuwen Taiji had left with the Grand-Orient Sword days ago—shouldn’t he come back and take on the responsibility as sect master?